Police have arrested two suspects and are searching for three more after an Etobicoke man was kidnapped, held for ransom and tortured.
Toronto police say the 24-year-old victim’s family was also threatened with death if they refused to pay a large sum of money.
“The victim did not know any of the perpetrators. We’re not sure why he was targeted,” said Supt. Ron Taverner.
The two suspects in custody were arrested separately on Wednesday afternoon while trying to pick up the ransom money at locations arranged by the kidnappers.
The victim, a man originally from Ghana and working as a part-time courier, was grabbed off the street in the Jane St. and Wilson Ave. area on Tuesday afternoon and taken away in a van.
Police say he was held at a home in the Hamilton Mountain area, where he was beaten and burned with a clothes iron.
He was also forced to phone his family, who live in the Martin Grove Rd. and Eglinton Ave. W. area, to relay his abductors’ demand for cash.
The man’s family contacted police Wednesday morning. They continued to receive calls that day for an increase in the ransom amount, along with death threats to the victim and his relatives if they did not pay.
“The initial demands for money increased as the day went on,” Taverner said, declining to reveal exactly how high the ransom demand got.
“It ended up being a fairly large amount of money that was demanded, but no money was paid.”
In the phone calls made by the kidnap victim himself, he was able to say he was being held captive in the Hamilton area.
Police arrested one of the suspects in Peel Region and the other in Toronto, but said neither was one of the three men who kept the victim confined.
Both men arrested were known to police, as are the three others who are being sought.
Bruised and burned, the victim was dropped off in the Avenue Rd. and Wilson area later Wednesday night, and telephoned his family that he was free.
He sought his own medical attention and did not need to be hospitalized.
“He doesn’t know the perpetrators or why he was abducted. It almost appears to be a random act, and we’re not sure why at this time,” said Taverner, adding that the man’s relatives are not wealthy.
Charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, forcible confinement, assault with a weapon, and two counts of threatening death are Jeffery Glover, 31, of Mississauga, and Olewale Opeyemi, 39, of Toronto.
Named on warrants for similar charges are Jason Dane Dillon, 24, Prince Ashley Lewers, 25, and Teri Deane Broomfield, 24.
